Isaiah 14:12, Lucifer, or the Day Star?
Lucifer appears as lucifer in the Vulgate of Isaiah 14:12, while the Masoretic Text reads הילל בן שחר; the readings raise a name-versus-day-star image question.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
The blind committee's printed text at Isaiah 14:12 says, "How you have fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of dawn!" It prints Day Star and son of dawn rather than lucifer. Its record supplies no rationale note for this crux, and the pericope audit verdict is 'clean'.
The argument for each reading
If a name (Lucifer)
Reading A begins with the Vulgate, which reads lucifer and glosses it as light-bearer / morning star. Its witness row says Jerome used an ordinary Latin word for the morning star in lowercase. The case for treating Lucifer as a name therefore concerns the later tradition that capitalized this Latin term into a proper noun. In that framing, the word can be read as a personal designation. The supplied evidence also keeps the Latin sense of morning star in view, so the name reading involves more than the Latin word alone.
If an image (day star)
Reading B is supported by the MT, which reads הילל בן שחר and glosses it shining one, son of dawn. Its row describes a taunt aimed at the king of Babylon, using imagery of the morning star falling from the sky. The LXX likewise reads ὁ ἑωσφόρος, the dawn-bringer, and identifies this as an astronomical image rather than a personal name. Together, these witnesses frame the language as a falling celestial image within the taunt. They do not use the Latin word lucifer.
The supplied witnesses show a Hebrew and Greek astronomical image alongside a Latin term later capitalized into a proper noun. They do not settle how a reader should weigh that later capitalization against the image language. The variant does not change the supplied pericope setting, a taunt aimed at the king of Babylon. No doctrine is decided by this wording alone; doctrines rest on many passages.
Common questions
Is Lucifer a Hebrew name in Isaiah 14:12?
No. The packet says Lucifer is not a Hebrew name: it is Jerome's Latin for the morning star, later capitalized into a proper noun.
What does the Hebrew of Isaiah 14:12 say?
The MT reads הילל בן שחר, glossed shining one, son of dawn. Its witness row describes morning-star imagery in a taunt aimed at the king of Babylon.
What does the Septuagint read in Isaiah 14:12?
The LXX reads ὁ ἑωσφόρος, the dawn-bringer. Its witness row describes the Greek as an astronomical image rather than a personal name.
Related entries
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.